Cathy Thrasher, chief pharmacist at Watkins Memorial Health Center at Kansas University, said she had no way to predict whether demand for the morning-after pill would increase by the end of the year.

For now, Thrasher does not plan to increase supply of the morning-after pill. She compared the new over-the-counter regulations with those in place for other medicines, like when a 2005 state law meant to combat methamphetamine production forced medicines with pseudoephedrine from the shelf to go behind the pharmacy counter.

"It would not be a totally unfamiliar way of operating for us," she said.

Mark Smith, owner of Orchards Drug, 1410 Kasold Drive, said he thought demand for the pills would increase.

"I would think sales would go up just because it has been a real inconvenience for people to have to go get a prescription for it," he said.

Under the current regulations, sales are just about nil, Smith said. He could not remember ever selling more than one package.

Tom Wilcox, owner of Round Corner Drug, 801 Mass., also said there had been little demand for the pill.

"I can't even recall the last time I dispensed any," he said.

The FDA decision was long overdue, said Peter Brownlie, president and chief executive of Planned Parenthood of Kansas and Mid-Missouri. But the organization was not happy about the sales restrictions imposed on teenagers, calling it "scientifically baseless." Girls 17 and under still will have to get a prescription to obtain the drug.

The decision brought a positive response from Chase Schultz, a Kansas University sophomore in computer science from Goessel.

"As a student, I think that there's probably a fair amount of people that probably get into some sort of trouble," he said. "I'm concentrating on school, and the last thing I need is a kid to worry about."

Schultz said he understands the stance from some opponents who say easier access will promote sexual conduct, but it's nothing new, Schultz said.

"I think it will pass on through, and I think it will become more and more insignificant just as birth control has since the 1960s," he said.

More like this story on LJWorld.com

Comments

My predictions:
1. They will charge 100$ per pill
2. They will lock it up in a glass cabinet along with the Nicoderm and other high dollar OTCs so the pharmicist has to get it for you.
3. You will have to be 21 to buy it.
4. If it goes against the pharmicist's "moral conciousness" he/she won't have to sell it to you.

"The decision brought a positive response from Chase Schultz, a Kansas University sophomore in computer science from Goessel.

"As a student, I think that there's probably a fair amount of people that probably get into some sort of trouble," he said. "I'm concentrating on school, and the last thing I need is a kid to worry about.""

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If you're that concerned Chase, then perhaps it would be best to keep it in your pants. Remember, the use of the pill will be the woman's decision not yours. Just because the pills will be so readily available doesn't mean that females HAVE to use them. You could still very well get saddled with a kid to worry about.

I think this is good....making this drug more excessible. Because right now in order to take the morning after pill, you have to book an appointment at a clinic which sometimes they can't fit you in, and they also don't take walk-in's on certain days, which sometime defeats the whole purpose of it.
This makes more sense too, Instead of having gorvernment assistance (tax dollars) on mistakes for the next 18 years.

jg: Good points. Don't try to get all rational about this, now. The righties need abortions to keep the fires burning about all those "sacred gametes" the SkyGod has blessed. You are right; this is supposed to be for emergencies and won't be abused by many.

To think that this will increase sexual promiscuity is INSANE! Plan B is an option. In no way, shape, or form does a pill change someone's morals. In my opinion, when individuals engage in sex, it's something they've already decided they're going to do (regardless of a pill). Having another option for preventing pregnancy doesn't change that! I can't imagine saying, "Oh, well now that Plan B is over the counter, I can have sex!" Condoms have been over the counter for ages!!! Plan B will not infuence morals. I think it's a just a lame excuse.

Why need sources to support evidence when you can just make up outlandish statements and make believe they are true. This plan B going OTC is going to be terrible news as now there is going to be more STD's and actually more pregnacies due to nobody using condoms anymore. See how easy that was.

CRAZY SPIN: " If the morning-after pill is available OTC, anyone could buy it and slip it to a woman without her knowledge. A woman who may want to be pregnant could become the victim of a man who does not want her to have a child."

FACT: Plan B radically swings a woman's hormones about, with predictable consequences for anyone who's ever been around a woman going through menopause. They know something is going on, and it's not a terribly pleasant experience. I also wonder in what weird Hollywoodized mindset a man can just "slip" a pill to his wife (seriously, guys, try and "slip" an aspirin to your ladies, tell me how that works out), especially when the pill must be purchased by an adult female. And then he's going to do this every 2-3 days for the duration of their relationship at a cost of, what, $20 a pill? Seriously, this is just a silly idea, but they get even worse.

CRAZY SPIN: "Interaction with a physician is crucial to discovering STDs that could lead to infertility or cancer, and intervening to rescue girls who are being sexually abused."

FACT: The hipocracy would be funny if it weren't sad; this is the same group that was all against universal vaccination for HPV when that came out a few months back, on the grounds that then they'd have even less to scare kids with.

CRAZY SPIN: "Easy access to Plan B would enable statutory rapists, adult men who are having sex with minors, to have unhindered access to the pill to cover up their crime. "

FACT: This is where the real crazy comes out, wild-eyed and drooling. Yes, a grown man is going to go out and get a grown woman to guy Plan B for him so he can feed it to a little girl like candy, in order to make sure there's no evidence of his contact with her. You know, like DNA evidence, or an accomplice, or reciepts of purchase, or anything like that.

It's obvious, even to people with half a brain, that the only "evidence" that Plan B would prevent us from having would be pregnant statutory rape victims. And I think we can all agree with the "Concerned" Women of America that the more statutory rape victims who are impregnated by their rapists, the better off we all are!

In summary, you know they're just preaching to the choir on this one, so it's not like they have to be fettered by rational thought or logical consistency. But you have to realize, this is the crazy kind of logic that opposes such a reasonable idea: let's help people who don't want to be parents right now avoid getting pregnant. it really bothers me that in Lawrence, KS, in 2006, so many people really think that forcing women to choose between an unwanted pregnancy or an abortion is preferable to preventing the pregnancy from taking place.

parkay: Plan B is hardly an abortifacient. Yes, it will prevent a fertalized egg from implanting in the uterus. But a fertalized egg already implanted it will have no effect on. Plan B works mainly to prevent fertalization of an unfertalized egg. Your website you linked to was pure craptastic. Though I'm sure it makes great sense in crazyville where you reside.

I agree that girls are not a promiscuous as people "fear". Its not like once they hit a certain age they're spreading their legs so fast their pelvises break. which it sounds like alot of you beleive that. get a reality check.